Just Rs 2 5 Lakh For Public Awareness The Shocking Math Behind Haryanas 20 Years Of Rti

Twenty years after the Right to Information (RTI) Act came into force in Haryana, figures obtained through RTI applications have raised serious questions about the priorities of the Haryana State Information Commission. The data reveal a striking contrast: whi... The data reveal a striking contrast: while the Commission spent over Rs 113.42 crore on salaries and allowances of Information Commissioners and staff and nearly Rs 48 crore on a new office building, it spent only Rs 2.5 lakh on public awareness of the RTI Act over two decades. The disclosures, obtained by RTI activist P P Kapoor, provide a detailed account of the Commission’s functioning and expenditure since the RTI Act became operational in Haryana on October 12, 2005. According to the information obtained, the state government spent “only Rs 2,49,936 on creating public awareness about the RTI Act during the entire 20-year period”. More strikingly, “not a single rupee has been spent on RTI awareness campaigns during the last 15 years”. The figures have triggered criticism from transparency advocates, who argue that a law can be effective only when citizens are aware of their rights and know how to use the legislation. The records show that the “Haryana State Information Commission spent Rs 113.42 crore over the last two decades on the salaries, allowances, and related benefits of Information Commissioners and staff”. At present, the Commission has a Chief Information Commissioner (retired IAS officer TVSN Prasad), and five Information Commissioners (Amarjit Singh, Karamvir Saini, Neeta Khera, Sanjay Madaan, and Ajay Kumar Sura), while five commissioner posts remain vacant, raising questions about whether the institution has adequate manpower to handle its workload. Until December 2024, the Commission operated from rented premises in Chandigarh. It shifted to its newly constructed headquarters in Sector 3, Panchkula, on December 16, 2024. The new four-storey building cost taxpayers Rs 47.64 crore, including Rs 9.31 crore for the plot, and Rs 38.83 crore for construction. In addition, the Commission spent Rs 13.62 lakh on furniture and interior furnishings. The building’s electricity bill for the past 16 months alone stands at Rs 79.53 lakh, reflecting the recurring operational costs associated with the new premises. Kapoor disclosed that, as per the RTI findings, “the Commission’s new office has been functioning for the last 18 months without obtaining an Occupation Certificate (OC) and Fire Safety Certificate”. Under the Haryana Building Code, 2017, an Occupation Certificate is mandatory before a building can be occupied. The RTI disclosures claim that without such certification, occupancy of the building is not legally permissible. Despite concerns over spending priorities, the Commission has processed a substantial number of RTI-related cases over the years. During the last 20 years, it received 1,13,897 second appeals, and 12,629 complaints. Of these, 1,08,288 second appeals have been disposed of, and 11,186 complaints have been resolved. The Commission currently has 5,609 pending appeals and 1,443 complaints pending. The records further show that during the last five years, the Commission imposed penalties totaling Rs 1.79 crore on defaulting Public Information